


It's in the Job Description

by Lucky_Guardian



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Implied/Referenced Experimentation, Injury, Injury Recovery, One Shot, Original Character(s), Original Universe, Self-Harm, Self-Insert, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21962203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucky_Guardian/pseuds/Lucky_Guardian
Summary: The job of a superhero is often not an easy one. During an encounter with the Green Goblin, Bands realizes that this situation isn't painted as clearly as she thought, and she may need to try out another method if she wants everyone to be safer at the end of the day.
Kudos: 6





	It's in the Job Description

**Author's Note:**

> Got the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse art book, saw the Green Goblin page and inspiration hit me... in the form of writing for my spidersona's universe. And because I'm crazy, here I am writing it all up on Christmas.
> 
> Thanks for clicking on this to read, and happy holidays!!

The loud crash of a dumpster and the muttered cursing from Spider-Woman, or Bands, as she preferred it, echoed from the alleyway. She slumped down on the ground, wincing in pain. That hit hurt, but it was just bruising; it was the wound on her left leg that she was more concerned about. Either way, she wouldn't be able to check herself until this was over; in the meantime, she would have to wait for her healing factor to help her out of here.

With a thud, the Green Goblin landed in front of her. Standing eight feet tall and almost looking more like an anthropomorphic crocodile than human, the scaly menace had become Bands' second major villain in her career as Spider-Woman. It showed up less often than Doc Ock did, but carried more than enough raw strength to make each fight a struggling challenge.

And now, it had her cornered in an alley with a leg that didn't seem strong enough to support her to stand. Great. Of course, there were always her webs, but momentum from the legs always helped, and being like this wouldn't be fast enough to get away without Green Goblin catching up.

For now, she just needed to stall. The Green Goblin often fled when enough police showed up, so if she could wait until then, things would be fine. Absolutely not a perfect solution, but it would have to do in this instance. Someday it would be good to subdue it and handle the problem for good, but she didn't have much to actually harm it, so most of her fights against it ended with it fleeing after she did her best to keep harm to the lowest.

Crossing her arms, Bands shot webs between the buildings on her sides, creating a barrier in front of her. It certainly wouldn't stop the Green Goblin if they tried hard enough, but again, her goal right now was to stall for time.

Knowing this though, actually watching the beast begin stomping towards her and her little web wall made her freeze in place for a moment, followed by her heart rate increasing even more.

"Woah, wait wait wait!" Bands blurted out, doing her best to pull herself upright and lean against the dented dumpster behind her.

To her surprise, Green Goblin paused, still glaring down at her, but now almost with an air of curiosity.

"Why can't we talk about this? I mean, why are you even attacking me? It is me in particular you're after, right? Not just this city?" she continued, finding it hard to catch her breath but talking faster anyway. "Doc Ock is mostly doing it for attention, but I get the feeling you aren't that kind of guy."

Only a low growling as a response. Could… they speak? Now that Bands thought about that, it was well within the realm of possibility. That croc mouth could not be good for forming proper words. Regardless, they did sound interested in diplomacy, so Bands was willing to keep trying.

Having this almost moment of calm though, Bands' spider sense had a moment to actually catch up with her. Being in heated battle before, she didn't have much time to focus on anything other than avoiding attacks. However, now… she had the chance to pick up on other things.

Green Goblin was hurting. Bands didn't have many means to hurt them; she could scratch, bite, kick and punch, but that often didn't seem to damage much through the scales. They were hurting just by existing.

"Okay, so maybe that was a bit… strong. How about some introductions? That's always good to start with," Bands said, swallowing another anxious breath. "Everyone calls you Green Goblin, but it's not like you told them to call you that. It's not like I told anyone to call me Spider-Woman either," she added, "uh, I can't actually give you my actual name, you know how it is, kinda in the job description to hide that. You can call me Bands though?"

Another pause, but no growl this time. Again, Bands wondered if they would even be able to give an actual response. Should she suggest that they write it down…?

"W...Walter."

"Oh!" Momentarily caught off guard by them speaking, it took Bands a moment to reply. "That's a nice name! You know what, I've never met a Walter before, so this is actually pretty cool," she told them, finding herself smiling from underneath the mask.

Walter smiled slightly as well, showing off rows of sharp teeth in his maw. He opened his mouth to try speaking again, but didn't get much audible out aside from some gurgling and more growling. Furrowing his brows, he spat out some of the drool that had begun dripping out of his mouth when he tried to speak.

Bands' expression softened, the eyes of her mask visibly creasing with concern. Idly, she tested her leg on the ground, lifting it back up again as it sprung with pain.

"You weren't always like this, were you?" she murmured, and then stiffened and hurried to correct herself. "I-I mean, of course you weren't always like that… I haven't even always been like this, but, I mean… There's someone… above you, making you do all this, isn't there?"

A yes or no question, hopefully to receive a nod or shake of the head in answer, no verbal response needed.

No answer was ever given. Instead, the increasing pitch of police sirens arrived on the scene. Quite a bit late considering the circumstances, if Bands was being honest. If she was also being honest, she would have rathered them not show up at all at this point. Walter was evidently not pleased by this either, and Bands detected that he planned on fleeing now before he got cornered.

"Wait!" Bands cried out, tempted to use her webs to assure he would stick around, but not wanting to be forceful like that. "If you leave, y-you're just going back to them, right? That isn't right! You don't deserve to be stuck there! It's a c-company, right? Maybe you could tell me where or what it is, and I could help you take them down! So you can be safe!"

He scowled, another low growl rumbling from his throat at the offer. Regardless, he didn't leave, though he still seemed tempted to. His clawed hands shaking as he clenched and unclenched them, shifting his gaze out to the streets and back to Bands; an internal battle at himself with this choice.

Suddenly, Walter let out a scratchy roar, throwing his head at the nearby building, causing bricks to crumble around him as he staggered back. Bands' eyes widened, and she let out a wail.

"No, stop! What are you doing?"

Now stumbling about, Walter continued to shake and twitch as he slowly crumpled to the ground. To Bands' continued shock, his form began to… shrink. Scales receded into his body, the exaggerated animalistic features fading into something more human-like; something she hadn't seen from him before.

Even as most of this regression back to humanity slowed to a conclusion, it wasn't perfect. There was still the green on his skin, and deformed claws. Though, he was certainly a lot smaller; it was hard to tell from Walter's current position, but it wouldn't have surprised Bands if he was actually shorter than her now. He continued shaking on the ground, staring blankly ahead. Bands could tell that the transformation alone had worn him out a lot; he wouldn't be getting up for awhile.

It was only moments after that that the police began rounding the corner into the alleyway, guns raised. Instinctively, Bands lifted her hands, but slowly lowered them again soon afterwards; recognizing that she was in no way the target here.

"H-Hold on, don't hurt him!" she pleaded with the police, her heart aching with the hope that they would listen. "Look, he… uh, I can handle him, if you-"

"Look, Spider-Woman, we appreciate all your help, but we can take it from here," one of the cops, one Bands was only slightly familiar with, interrupted.

Bands hesitated, "well, what will you do with him?" she asked, taking a hop forward; she could use her leg at this point, she figured, but they didn't need to know that.

The first officer that spoke up seemed reluctant to disclose the answer to that question, but a second one stepped forward.

"This is a… complicated situation here, but it will be detained where it can't hurt anyone else until we can figure out the next step," they told her.

"We will handle it from here, thank you for your service," the first cop insisted.

"...fine."

She stared down at Walter for another moment, who was still twitching slightly, before raising her left arm and shooting a web out. It hit another nearby building, and she could feel the momentum about to tug her outwards.

Before that happened though, she lifted her right arm and pointed it at the mutant boy, shooting a second web at his back. Yanking that arm, she was able to pull him up just as she was taken away herself, carrying them both off into the air.

Distantly, her spider sense buzzed with the intention of some of the cops wanting to shoot after her, but in the end, no guns were actually fired.

She pulled Walter, who was lighter than she expected, into a more secure carry under her arm; he was muscular and still scaly, but thin under malnourishment. He struggled for a moment, but either seemed to understand that this was a good outcome, or he was too tired to fight anymore.

Each time her leg touched a roof as she hurried along, pain burst up again, but it was bearable; she could handle it to get out of here. She just had to make it out of the city, and then she could rest again.

Part of Bands already stressed about this choice, and what would come from it. She had just made off with one of the major supervillains threatening the city, instead of just leaving them to the police to arrest.

In the end though, it didn't really matter what they thought. It wasn't like they could really do much about it. Besides, it wasn't her job to make cops like her.

As Spider-Woman, Bands wanted to help people, and leaving Walter to the police wouldn't follow that. She wanted to make sure no one was wrongfully harmed.

It was basically in her job description.


End file.
